“Yeah, that’s always how it goes, isn’t it?” she said, and she sounded tired.
“How?” I asked, taking a bite of my turkey sandwich.
“We do whatever it takes,” she replied. “Late nights, skipped meals, shit pay, three-a.m. calls, lost weekends…”
“And burning out our nasal cavities,” I added.
“Exactly.”
“Long day?” I asked her.
“Ugh,” she said. “Long week. Long month.” She sighed heavily. “Honestly, it sucks a lot more without you here.”
I felt emotion push at my throat, and I had to set down the sandwich I’d been about to take another bite of. “Aw, Quince.”
“I’m not mad or anything,” she said hurriedly. “Just… we had a good team. And now it sucks because they just… didn’t even try to replace you. Not that you’re replaceable.”
I knew what she meant. “I get it,” I told her. “We were already barely making it, and being permanently a person down has to be hellish.”
“You don’t need another person in wherever-the-fuck-you-are, do you?”
“Is it really that bad?” I asked, worried about her.
Another gusty sigh. “No, not really. We’ve just had a string over the last couple weeks, probably because it’s been hot as balls.” Heat made people short-tempered, and that meant more homicides.
“I’m sorry,” I told her.
“Ugh. Let’s stop talking about work. Work sucks.”
“Okay,” I agreed.
“How’s your hottie?”
It was my turn to sigh. “Let’s just say he doesn’t feel the same way about me, and that has been made crystal clear,” I told her, admitting it out loud putting a pit in my stomach.
“Oh, shit, that sucks,” Quincy moaned in sympathy.
“Yeah, well. I did it to myself,” I replied, trying to force an equanimity I didn’t feel. “How’s Aaron?”
“He’s good!” She sounded genuinely happy. “We’ve been having more serious conversations, I guess. Nothingtooserious, though,” she hastened to say, stalling whatever questions I might have been about to ask. “But, ohmigod, we’re going to look at a couple senior kitties tomorrow!”
“Thatisexciting!” I said. “You’d better send me pictures.”
“Oh, definitely.”
We spent another half-hour or so talking about the senior cat setup she and Aaron had put together, how many cats she wanted to eventually foster at once, but how they were going to start with just two.
She seemed in better spirits when we hung up, and so was I, although it did make me miss her. I hadn’t thought we were really that close, but moving halfway across the country will teach you who your real friends are, I guess.
Mine were Quincy and a crotchety elf.
So I texted him to tell him about starting fire investigation training.
Good for you, came back almost immediately.You can start by getting away with burning down Elliot’s garage.
Why would I do that?I asked him.
Because he’s a stubborn furry asshole and deserves to have a fire lit under his ass, Hart replied, and I couldn’t help a half-strangled laugh that, had anyone heard it, probably would have made me sound slightly insane.
